A great activity, new investigators, having to talk with a few minutes notice and getting sick enough
to require a shot in the butt. Ah…the life of a missionary! Well this may be
the last update from Elder McAlister before returning home next, but there may be one
more depending on how his schedule lines up.
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McAlister’s,
I am really glad to hear from you
guys and you guys sound really excited that I will be home soon. I on the other
hand am nervous and not sure really what to expect but that’s okay. Glad to
hear that everyone is doing okay. I hope that Derek enjoys his new job and that
he learns a lot and does well. Glad to hear that Brooke is enjoying Lehi
volleyball, and are you the head coach or what? Sabrina I really hope that you
are enjoying the summer time and swimming sounds pretty fun! And the bike ride
that you guys did looks pretty fun.
Well time really has flown by, and now I really do have a little
time! I got an email that I will be traveling to Concepción on Sunday after
church, and I will have my interview with the President that night. Then I have
meetings on Monday on how to find a job and how to manage my money. To answer
your question, I have no idea if i will write you guys next Monday, there is an
internet place in Concepción, but I don’t know if they are going to give us
time that day. I guess we will just wait and find out.
Well this last week was a weird week
because we had trouble with the members coming out with us, and it’s not fun
working without members. We have had some really good investigators coming out
of nowhere! Elder Chavez and I are teaching really well and I can tell you I
really have felt the spirit this last week! We are working with Rodolfo and he
didn't come to church but he is progressing very fast. We are working with the
mother of Ricardo Araya, and she isn't a member but she came to church. Then we
are teaching a teenager named Alexander and he is really cool and we have had
really spiritual lessons with him.
Well this last Friday we had an
activity and it turned out really good. We planned it at 7 o'clock and we
waited about 40 minutes and nobody got there, not even the other missionary's.
So we were pretty sad and then all a sudden a ton of people started showing up
and we ended up having about 97-105 people at the activity!!! It was awesome,
and the father of a member showed up with a cotton candy maker and he’s not
even member and the kids went crazy about it. Elder Chavez and I had the lesson,
and we ended up teaching about the family and how we need to establish love and
charity in the home. After that we played a game that the other missionary's
prepared kind of and everyone really had a good time. The funny part is that we
had more people come to the activity than to church, so there is still some
work to do here.
I got sick and my companion got sick. We have both been sick
with our throats, coughing, fever, and really bad headaches, we were still out
working, but I was getting really bad really fast so we ended up going to a
clinic and it turns out that I have an infection in my throat and it was very
very red with a lot of puss and my throat was swollen. So what happened I got a
shot in my butt! Oh and yes it did hurt!! So I was lying face first on the
table and I didn't realize that I was drooling when the nurse gave me a shot so
after a while of lying on the table I stood up and saw a huge drool mark on the
table and the nurse looked at the spot on the table and gave me a dirty look
and left. Embarrassing but my butt hurt for a little bit of time after that and
now I am on medications! I am doing well and trying to work my hardest I can
without dying.
On Sunday, during the Sacrament, the
mission leader was looking at me and pointing up to the pulpit and all a sudden
I realized that I was going to have to give a talk in about 15 minutes. So i
started to pray and ponder in what I should talk about, and nothing came to my
mind! They called me up and I still had no idea what I should say. All of a
sudden, I felt like I should go to Alma 7:11-13 and I explained that Christ
suffered for our pains, afflictions, sicknesses, and our transgressions! Then
in the last verse it explains that he suffered for our sins. So I was hoping
that the members would understand that cristo sufrío por todo! I really like
this scripture!
Well maybe I will write you guys
next week, but I’m not really sure. Thanks for all the support that you guys
have given me during the mission it really does mean a lot. The time has gone
by so fast and I really wish I could stay longer, but I can’t. I will see you
guys next week on Wednesday, and I really can’t wait for that either, it’s
going to be weird. I’mm not going to think about until next Wednesday! (HaHa) I love you guys a ton!
Love you guys!!!
Elder McAlister
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Spiritual thought time! Although Sean has another full week
of hard work in front of him in Chillan, I have been reflecting on what my
mission meant to me, and looked up a talk by W. Christopher Waddell, Of the
Seventy, in October 2011 General Conference called "The Opportunity of a
Lifetime" on missions. The following three excerpts I sent to Sean for him
to consider as he prepares to come home after all the work, fun, struggle, hard
times, good times, gospel knowledge, testimony and unbelievable spiritual
experiences Elder McAlister has been through the last couple years. In his talk
he said:
In
whatever manner the Lord may choose to bless us during the course of a mission,
blessings of missionary service are not designed to end when we are released by
our stake president. Your mission is a training ground for life. The
experiences, lessons, and testimony obtained through faithful service are meant
to provide a gospel-centered foundation that will last throughout mortality and
into the eternities. However, for the blessings to continue after the mission,
there are conditions that must be met. In the Doctrine and Covenants we read,
“For all who will have a blessing at my hands shall abide the law which was
appointed for that blessing, and the conditions thereof” (D&C 132:5).
President Thomas S. Monson has taught: “Missionary work is difficult. It taxes one’s energies, it strains one’s capacity, it demands one’s best effort. … No other labor requires longer hours or greater devotion or such sacrifice and fervent prayer”
As a result of that sacrifice, we return from our missions with our own gifts: The gift of faith. The gift of testimony. The gift of understanding the role of the Spirit. The gift of daily gospel study. The gift of having served our Savior. Gifts carefully packaged in worn scriptures, tattered copies of Preach My Gospel, missionary journals, and grateful hearts. However, as with the children of Israel, the ongoing blessings associated with missionary service require application after the sacrifice.
President Thomas S. Monson has taught: “Missionary work is difficult. It taxes one’s energies, it strains one’s capacity, it demands one’s best effort. … No other labor requires longer hours or greater devotion or such sacrifice and fervent prayer”
As a result of that sacrifice, we return from our missions with our own gifts: The gift of faith. The gift of testimony. The gift of understanding the role of the Spirit. The gift of daily gospel study. The gift of having served our Savior. Gifts carefully packaged in worn scriptures, tattered copies of Preach My Gospel, missionary journals, and grateful hearts. However, as with the children of Israel, the ongoing blessings associated with missionary service require application after the sacrifice.
I told Sean
to take these words to heart and use the incredible gifts he has earned, and
been given by a generous Heavenly Father. He now has the blessing of building a
foundation for the rest of his life knowing the gospel is true, we have a
Savior who gave his life you us, and a Father that provides us all the tools we
need to return to live with him. He has the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation
and the importance of finding and taking a worthy daughter of God to the temple
to be sealed and to become a father and blessing his own children some day with
being born in the covenant and being raised in the Gospel.
I look at my
life and wonder who I would be, and where I would be, if I did not serve a
mission and try to live as a faithful member in church. How lucky I am to have my
wife, and four great children. I know today, even more than when I returned
home from my mission, but if not for the foundation my mission gave me, my life
could have been so different.
I will only
post on this blog one more time, possibly with an email from Sean, or just with
the pictures from his homecoming at the airport. If you read any of my thoughts
at the end of each post, I hope you found something of worth.
Until next
week enjoy what may be the last pictures sent from Chile by Elder McAlister…
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| A great ward activity |
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| Cotton Candy time!!! |
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